Monday, August 10, 2009

"Alan Smithee" Credits Of The Day

Are you familiar with the work of famed motion picture director Alan Smithee? Probably. He's been putting out product steadily since 1968. Not bad for a guy who doesn't exist.

From Wikipedia:

Alan Smithee (also Allen Smithee) is an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project, coined in 1968.

Until its use was formally discontinued in 2000, it was the sole pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) when a director dissatisfied with the final product proved to the satisfaction of a guild panel that he or she had not been able to exercise creative control over a film.

The director was also required by guild rules not to discuss the circumstances leading to the move or even to acknowledge being the actual director.

The Smithee pseudonym was created for use on the film Death of a Gunfighter in 1969. Lead actor Richard Widmark was unhappy with director Robert Totten, and arranged to have him replaced by Don Siegel. When the film was finished, Siegel did not want to take the credit for it, and Totten refused to take credit in his place. The DGA panel hearing the dispute agreed that it did not represent either director's creative vision.

The original proposal was to credit the fictional "Al Smith", but that was deemed too common a name, and in fact was already in use within the film industry. The last name was first changed to "Smithe", then "Smithee", which was thought to be distinctive enough to avoid confusion, but without drawing attention to itself.

Critics praised Death of a Gunfighter and its "new" director, with The New York Times commenting that the film was "sharply directed by Allen Smithee who has an adroit facility for scanning faces and extracting sharp background detail," and Roger Ebert commenting, "Director Allen Smithee, a name I'm not familiar with, allows his story to unfold naturally."

Some notable projects credited to "Alan Smithee," listed with their actual directors:

FILM DIRECTION

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). The Second Assistant Director credit for the first segment is credited to "Alan Smithee." This position is commonly involved in shooting action scenes, such as the one in which actor Vic Morrow was killed during production of this film.

Stitches (1985), directed by Rod Holcomb

Let's Get Harry (1986), directed by Stuart Rosenberg

Solar Crisis (1990), directed by Richard C. Sarafian

The Birds II: Land's End (1994), directed by Rick Rosenthal

National Lampoon's Senior Trip (1995), directed by Kelly Makin with a segment credited to Smithee

Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996), directed by Kevin Yagher

Mighty Ducks the Movie: The First Face-Off (1997), co-directed by Steve Langley

Dune (1984) as extended and edited for broadcast television, directed by David Lynch; the writing credit goes to "Judas Booth", an inside joke for Lynch, who states the studio (Judas) betrayed and killed (Booth) his film.

Ganheddo (AKA GunHed) (1989) as released in the United States, directed by Masato Harada

The Guardian (1990) as edited for cable television, directed by William Friedkin

Backtrack (1990) as originally released in theaters, directed by Dennis Hopper, credited to Hopper in a "director's cut" for a subsequent video release

Scent of a Woman (1992) as edited for broadcast television, directed by Martin Brest

Rudy (1993) as edited for television, directed by David Anspaugh

Showgirls (1995) as edited for television, directed by Paul Verhoeven (who instead of Smithee used the pseudonym "Jan Jensen"). However, the edited, R-rated version of Showgirls that was prepared for release at Blockbuster was supervised and authorized by Verhoeven, and this version carries the director's name.